I'm very disappointed with Optima batteries. I will never buy another Optima. I have a yellow top in my garage that won't hold a charge. Supposedly you're supposed to hit them with a 100A charge a few times to bring them back. Suuuuuuuuuuuuure.

Good to know about Costco batteries. I'll have to pick up a couple for one of our trucks soon.

 

Yes, that would have been nice to get a very accurate weight on them. However, a small difference might be seen, due to electrolyte quantity, even if the lead was identical. I was considering going back to them tomorrow with a digital bathroom scale and weighing my old batteries against two of theirs on their shelf, but I think I have better things to do.

I live in the San Fernando Valley, where summer temperatures here are frequently above 115 degrees. Our humidity is much drier, which would contribute to greater electrolyte loss. We get freezing temps once-in-a-while in the winter, too. I do, however, occasionally service them with distilled water.

Something is wrong with your regulator system. It's either set too high, boiling the juice out of the batteries and letting the plates get dry, or it's too low, allowing them to prematurely sulphate.

Pop

 

That's a defibrillator for batteries. I've heard of that but if they won't hold a charge probably won't help.

Good to know about Costco batteries even though I have a Sam's club membership. Good info.......Reps if I can.....

 

I have brought back two Optimas so far with my Xtreme charger. The pulse charging is what brings them back. Forcing an overcharge only overheats them and burns them out. I have also brought back Diehards and Motorcrafts with this charger. I love it.

And for the cost of one battery?

http://www.xtremechargers.com/

And when I hook it up to the truck, she cranks so much faster with the higher reserve. Can I give reps to Xtreme?

Sorry to derail a bit. Just wanted to share some battery tech I learned....

 

Don,

Do you leave the Xtreme hooked up as a battery "tender" when not driving the truck?

Pop

 

The batteries never boil even after 16 to 18 hrs running (with either alternator) and have never lased long enough to need water added.I'm pretty sure it's the crappy wally batteries one set was from oreally
If it was just one vehicle i would think different but all three do about the same and it's always one battery that goes bad
The set in my truck now are almost 2 yrs old but it's average milage is less than 200 a month,so I may get 2+ years out of these

The good is I've only had to buy 2 sets if batteries in almost 10 years

 

Which version are you using?

Here's mine: http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...0360&ppt=C0005

I've heard shocking the battery with ~100amp for 15min boils em and garbage falls off the plates newing their life.

 

Not exactly. I will hook it up to the truck, usually over the weekend when I am not driving it, and hook it to one batt Saturday, and the the other Sunday. Monday morning the cranking speed is way up.

I have done this about once a month for the year that I have had the Xtreme and very happy with the results.

You can leave it hooked to both batteries in parallel but it takes longer to work.

If any vehicle at my place gets parked for more than a few days, the Xtreme goes on it and the battery is always good when the vehicle is started. The Cherokee in the backyard has been parked for about a year, but still starts since I put the Xtreme on it every couple months.


The instructions with the Xtreme say you can use it as a "trickle" charger, and it will pulse your battery at low levels while on "trickle", helping maintain charge and battery conditioning.

 

Yeah, exactly. It looks like a battery tender. I can keep it charge when constantly trickling it. If it's not on a charger, it's dead.

Charging an Optima or AGM Battery : Batteries Are Us

 

Dunno. The one that works?

There is no 'version' number on it.

 

You can call the Xtreme a tender as it only provides a few amps charge, (5A max, I think) but the pulsing is what brings them back and reduces sulfation.

I do not know who "Batteries Are Us" is. I bought the Xtreme a year ago and have seen first hand what it has done.

I also have a 200+ amp starting charger that can blast a battery into thermonuclear overload in seconds.

The Xtreme does a better job.

 

I have a pulse charger. It's for deep cycle batteries. Doesn't work.

 

And upon reading the Batteries Are Us info, I can agree on some of it.

The two dead Optimas I brought back, did get blasted with 200 amps until they got warm, allowed to cool, blasted again, allowed to cool, and then put on the Xtreme. I never allowed them to get hot.

Any battery overheated is only worth recycling.

 

The Xtreme works on deep cycle and regular batteries.

Works on ALL my batteries, even the 12v batteries for my Makita drill.

Damn, now I sound like a salesman.

 

Standard Extreme, X2 Dual Station, Xtreme Parallel?